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the act of ; distribution; classification.
a collection of various kinds of things; a mixed collection.
Contemporary Examples

The result is an assortment of cheerful and vibrant suits that feel simultaneously young and style-conscious.
Model Robyn Lawley Debuts Plus-Size Bathing-Suit Line Isabel Wilkinson July 15, 2013

Then, that very same week, she got into a car accident on a snowy road and was left with an assortment of broken bones.
Moving In With Mom, Dad and God Marisa Meltzer October 26, 2009

Less than a month earlier, there was a planned “gathering of dissidents” featuring an assortment of Nazi-envy characters.
Fascism Is Fashionable Again in Europe Thane Rosenbaum June 7, 2014

The old picture of a hustler is a wizened guy, standing on a street corner selling some assortment of unsavory goods.
The New American Hustler The Daily Beast January 11, 2009

For better than a year now, the self-declared leader of “21st century socialism” has been battling an assortment of demons.
Hugo Chávez Wins Reelection and Looks to the Future Mac Margolis October 13, 2012

Historical Examples

Especially if you pick up an assortment of expletives in the Sicilian vernacular.
The Title Market Emily Post

We have a shop close by, where you will find an assortment of all the articles that are most in request.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete Emile Zola

Cutter began tumbling out upon the floor an assortment of clothing, evincing little respect for the Mexican’s finery.
The Bells of San Juan Jackson Gregory

The shopwoman displayed her assortment of cotillion objects.
A Nest of Spies Pierre Souvestre

A comb-maker, however, well provided in tools, has an assortment of double saws set at every ordinary width.
A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines Andrew Ure

noun
a collection or group of various things or sorts
the act of assorting
n.

1610s, “action of assorting,” from assort + -ment. Sense of “group of things of the same sort” is attested from 1759; that of “group of things whether the same sort or not” from 1791.

assortment as·sort·ment (ə-sôrt’mənt)
n.
The relationship between non-allelic genetic traits that are transmitted from parent to child independently and according to the degree of linkage between the respective loci.